General Assembly

Distr. GENERAL

9 December 1981

ORIGINAL:ENGLISH

A/RES/36/103
91st plenary meeting
9 December 1981
36/103. Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention
and Interference in the Internal Affairs of States
The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolution 2734 (XXV) of 16 December 1970,
containing the Declaration on the Strengthening of International
Security, and its resolution 2131 (XX) of 21 December 1965,
containing the Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention in
the Domestic Affairs of States and the Protection of Their
Independence and Sovereignty,
Recalling further its resolution 2625 (XXV) of 24 October 1970,
containing the Declaration of Principles of International Law
concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in
accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, and its
resolution 3314 (XXIX) of 14 December 1974, containing the
Definition of Aggression,
Recalling also its resolutions 31/91 of 14 December 1976,
32/153 of 19 December 1977, 33/74 of 15 December 1978, 34/101 of 14
December 1979 and 35/159 of 12 December 1980 on non-interference in
the internal affairs of States,
Deeply concerned at the gravity of the international situation
and the increasing threat to international peace and security owing
to frequent recourse to the threat or use of force, aggression,
intimidation, military intervention and occupation, escalation of
military presence and all other forms of intervention or
interference, direct or indirect, overt or covert, threatening the
sovereignty and political independence of other States, with the aim
of overthrowing their Governments,
Conscious of the fact that such policies endanger the political
independence of States, freedom of peoples and permanent sovereignty
over their natural resources, adversely affecting thereby the
maintenance of international peace and security,
Conscious of the imperative need for all foreign forces engaged
in military occupation, intervention or interference to be
completely withdrawn to their own territories, so that people under
colonial domination, foreign occupation or racist regimes may freely
and fully exercise their right to self-determination, so as to
enable people of all States to administer their own affairs and
determine their own political, economic and social system without
external interference or control,
Conscious also of the imperative need for any threat of
aggression, any recruitment, any use of armed bands, in particular
mercenaries, against sovereign States to be completely ended, so as
to enable the peoples of all States to determine their own
political, economic and social systems without external interference
or control,
Recognizing that full observance of the principles of
non-intervention and non-interference in the internal and external
affairs of sovereign States and peoples, either directly or
indirectly, overtly or covertly, is essential to the fulfilment of
the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,
1. Approves the Declaration on the Inadmissibility of
Intervention and Interference in the Internal Affairs of States, the
text of which is annexed to the present resolution;
2. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure the widest
disseminaion of this Declaration to States, the specialized agencies
and other organizations in associaton with the United Nations, and
other appropriate bodies.
ANNEX
Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention and
Interference in the Internal Affairs of States
The General Assembly,
Reaffirming, in accordance with the Charter of the United
Nations, that no State has the right to intervent directly or
indirectly for any reason whatsoever in the internal or external
affairs of any other State,
Reaffirming further the fundamental principle of the Charter of
the United Nations that all States have the duty not to threaten or
use force against the sovereignty, political independence or
territorial integrity of other States,
Bearing in mind that the establishment, maintenance and
strengthening of international peace and security are founded upon
freedom, equality, self-determination and independence, respect for
the sovereignty of States, as well as permanent sovereignty of
States over their natural resources, irrespective of their
political, economic or social systems or the levels of their
development,
Considering that full observance of the principle of
non-intervention and non-interference in the internal and external
affairs of States is of the greatest importance for the maintenance
of international peace and security and for the fulfilment of the
purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,
Reaffirming in accordance with the Charter the right to
self-determination and independence of people under colonial
domination, foreign occupation or racist regimes,
Stressing that the purposes of the United Nations can be
achieved only under conditions where peoples enjoy freedom and
States enjoy sovereign equality and comply fully with the
requirements of these principles in their international relations,
Considering that any violation of the principle of
non-intervention and non-interference in the internal and external
affairs of States poses a threat to the freedom of peoples, the
sovereignty, political independence, territorial integrity of States
to their political, economic, social and cultural development, and
also endangers international peace and security,
Considering that a declaration on the inadmissibility of
intervention and interference in the internal affairs of States will
contribute towards the fulfilment of the purposes and principles of
the Charter of the United Nations,
Considering the provisions of the Charter as a whole and taking
into account the resolutions adopted by the United Nations relating
to the contents of this principle, in particular those containing
the Declaration on the Strengthening of International
Security, the Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention in
the Domestic Affairs of States and the Protection of Their
Independence and Sovereignty, the Declaration of Principles of
International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation
among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations
and the Definition of Aggression,
Solemnly declares that:
1. No State or group of States has the right to
intervene or interfere in any form or for any reason whatsoever
in the internal and external affairs of other States.
2. The principle of non-intervention and
non-interference in the internal and external affairs of States
comprehends the following rights and duties:
I
(a) Sovereignty, political independence, territorial
integrity, national unity and security of all States, as well
as national indentity and cultural heritage of their peoples;
(b) The sovereign and inalienable right of a State
freely to determine its own political, economic, cultural and
social system, to develop its international relations and to
exercise permanent sovereignty over its natural resources, in
accordance with the will of its people, without outside
intervention, interference, subversion, coercion or threat in
any form whatsoever;
(c) The right of States and peoples to have free access
to information and to develop fully, without interference,
their system of information and mass media and to use their
information media in order to promote their political, social,
economic and cultural interests and aspirations, based, inter
alia, on the relevant articles of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and the principles of the new international
information order;
II
(a) The duty of States to refrain in their international
relations from the threat or use of force in any form
whatsoever to violate the existing internationally recognized
boundaries of another State, to disrupt the political, social
or economic order of other States, to overthrow or change the
political system of another State or its Government, to cause
tension between or among States or to deprive peoples of their
national identity and cultural heritage;
(b) The duty of a State to ensure that its territory is
not used in any manner which would violate the sovereignty,
political independence, territorial integrity and national
unity or disrupt the political, economic and social stability
of another State; this obligaion applies also to States
entrusted with responsibility for territories yet to attain
self-determination and national independence;
(c) The duty of a State to refrain from armed
intervention, subversion, military occupation or any other form
of intervention and interference, overt or covert, directed at
another State or group of States, or any act of military,
political or economic interference in the internal affairs of
another State, including acts of reprisal involving the use of
force;
(d) The duty of a State to refrain from any forcible
action which deprives peoples under colonial domination or
foreign occupation of their right to self-determination,
freedom and independence;
(e) The duty of a State to refrain from any action or
attempt in whatever form or under whatever pretext to
destabilize or to undermine the stability of another State or
of any of its institutions;
(f) The duty of a State to refrain from the promotion,
encouragement or support, direct or indirect, of rebellious or
secessionist activities within other States, under any pretext
whatsoever, or any action which seeks to disrupt the unity or
to undermine or subvert the political order of other States;
(g) The duty of a State to prevent on its territory the
training, financing and recruitment of mercenaries, or the
sending of such mercenaries into the territory of another State
and to deny facilities, including financing, for the equipping
and transit of mercenaries;
(h) The duty of a State to refrain from concluding
agreements with other States designed to intervene or interfere
in the internal and external affairs of third States;
(i) The duty of States to refrain from any measure which
would lead to the strengthening of existing military blocs or
the creation or strengthening of new military alliances,
interlocking arrangements, the deployment of interventionist
forces or military bases and other related military
installations conceived in the context of great-Power
confrontation;
(j) The duty of a State to abstain from any defamatory
campaign, villification or hostile propaganda for the purpose
of intervening or interfering in the internal affairs of other
States;
(k) The duty of a State, in the conduct of its
international relations in the economic, social, technical and
trade fields, to refrain from measures which would constitute
interference or intervention in the internal or external
affairs of another State, thus preventing it from determining
freely its political, economic and social development; this
includes, inter alia, the duty of a State not to use its
external economic assistance programme or adopt any
multilateral or unilateral economic reprisal or blockade and to
prevent the use of transnational and multinational corporations
under its jurisdiction and control as instruments of political
pressure or coercion against another State, in violation of the
Charter of the United Nations;
(l) The duty of a State to refrain from the exploitation
and the distortion of human rights issues as a means of
interference in the internal affairs of States, of exerting
pressure on other States or creating distrust and disorder
within and among States or groups of States;
(m) The duty of a State to refrain from using terrorist
practices as state policy against another State or against
peoples under colonial domination, foreign occupation or racist
regimes and to prevent any assistance to or use of or tolerance
of terrorist groups, saboteurs or subversive agents against
third States;
(n) The duty of a State to refrain from organizing,
training, financing and arming political and ethnic groups on
their territories or the territories of other States for the
purpose of creating subversion, disorder or unrest in other
countries;
(o) The duty of a State to refrain from any economic,
political or military activity in the territory of another
State without its consent;
III
(a) The right of States to participate actively on the
basis of equality in solving outstanding international issues,
thus contributing to the removal of causes of conflicts and
interference;
(b) The right and duty of States fully to support the
right to self-determination, freedom and independence of
peoples under colonial domination, foreign occupation or racist
regimes, as well as the right of these peoples to wage both
political and armed struggle to that end, in accordance with
the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United
Nations;
(c) The right and duty of States to observe, promote and
defend all human rights and fundamental freedoms within their
own national territories and to work or the elimination of
massive and flagrant violations of the rights of nations and
peoples, and in particular, for the elimination of apartheid
and all forms of racism and racial discrimination;
(d) The right and duty of States to combat, within their
constitutional prerogatives, the dissemination of false or
distorted news which can be interpreted as interference in the
internal affairs of other States or as being harmful to the
promotion of peace, co-operation and friendly relations among
States and nations;
(e) The right and duty of States not to recognize
situations brought about by the threat or use of force or acts
undertaken in contravention of the principle of
non-intervention and non-interference.
3. The right and duties set out in this Declaration are
interrelated and are in accordance with the Charter of the United
Nations.
4. Nothing in this Declaration shall prejudice in any manner
the right to self-determination, freedom and independence of peoples
under colonial domination, foreign occupation or racist regimes, and
the right to seek and receive support in accordance with the
purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
5. Nothing in this Declaration shall prejudice in any manner
the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
6. Nothing in this Declaration shall prejudice action taken
by the United Nations under Chapters VI and VII of the Charter of
the United Nations.